OKLAHOMA CITY – Against a depleted, rebuilding Thunder team (22-54), the Hawks (39-37) polished off their road trip with a 136-118 win Wednesday at Paycom Center.
1. This marked Atlanta’s first win in Oklahoma City since Dec. 19, 2016. So, it also marked Trae Young’s first career NBA win in Oklahoma City, playing back in his home state. Young dominated whenever he was on the floor, finishing with a game-high 41 points, plus eight assists, two rebounds and two steals. An Oklahoma native and former Sooner, Young got a round of applause when his name was announced as a starter, and got plenty of cheers throughout the game.
“First win of hopefully many more wins here,” Young said. “There’s definitely a lot of people here that I knew and they’ve seen me play in high school and stuff, so it’s pretty cool to come back here and play for sure. ... It’s different,2. This win puts the Hawks two games over .500, a mark they hadn’t been at since Dec. 2 when they were 12-10. The Hawks have six regular-season games left and are still in a position to gain some ground in the Eastern Conference standings – as of Wednesday night, they’re still at No. 10, but are only a half-game behind the Hornets and one game behind the Nets. They have won three games in a row.
